1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical contact capable of absorbing vibrations during the electrical connection of this contact to a mating contact.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 11-119391, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an electric connector, mounted in an automobile, is vibrated by an external force, fine sliding movements are liable to develop between an electrical contact in the electric connector and a mating contact electrically connected to this electrical contact. When such fine sliding movements develop, those surfaces (i.e., contact points) of the electrical contact and the mating contact, held in contact with each other, are worn. This results in a disadvantage that an electrical resistance at these contact surfaces increases.
Therefore, in order to reduce wear (i.e., friction) of the contact surfaces by absorbing fine sliding movements, an electrical contact 80, shown in FIG. 10, is disclosed by Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 10-189102.
The electrical contact 80 includes an electrical contact portion 81 for receiving a mating contact (not shown) therein, and an electrical connection portion 82 for clamping a wire (not shown).
The electrical contact portion 81 has a square tubular shape, and includes an upper contact piece 84, supported by one side wall 87 in underlying relation to a top wall 83, and a resilient contact piece 86 which is connected to a rear end of the upper contact piece 86 through a resilient curved plate 85, and extends into the interior of electrical contact portion 81. The upper contact piece 84 is supported by the one side wall, and therefore can absorb upward and downward vibrations and right and left (that is, in directions perpendicular to the sheet of the drawing) vibrations at the time of insertion of the mating contact. However, the resilient contact piece 86 could not sufficiently absorbed vibrations in a direction (direction P) of insertion of the mating contact and in its opposite direction (direction Q).
Therefore, the present inventors of the present application have earlier proposed an electrical contact 90 as shown in FIG. 11, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/456,834 filed on Dec. 7, 1999.
The electrical contact 90 includes a vibration-absorbing plate 93 of a curved shape, extending from a rear end of a top wall 92 of an electrical contact portion 91, and a bifurcated-resilient contact piece 94 which is formed integrally with the vibration-absorbing plate 93, and extends into the interior of the electrical contact portion 91. The vibration-absorbing plate 93 absorbs the vibration of the resilient contact piece 94 at the time of insertion of a mating contact, and therefore wear (i.e., friction) of the mating contact and the resilient contact piece due to fine sliding movement therebetween is reduced.
In the electrical contact 90, the vibration-absorbing plate 93 may be excessively displaced in a direction (i.e., direction P) of insertion of the mating contact and in its opposite direction (i.e., direction Q).